August 18, 2010

Mosque at Ground Zero

Wow, it’s been awhile. Sorry all, things have been hectic here of late. Kid is getting ready to go back to school, I am going back next week, Comic Con this weekend…anyway, enough with the excuses, I’m lazy there I said it.

Anyway, I have been rolling this one around in my head for a while now, and at first I wasn’t going to put in my 2.35 cents (yes, the dollar is so low we can get fractions of cents). After hearing more about it, about issues surrounding it, and the people behind it I am beginning to feel more strongly about the issue.

Look, first of all, I don’t have a problem with a mosque being built in America. I don’t think anyone in their right mind is saying that the mosque shouldn’t be built. People just don’t want it there. I was kind of on the fence, though sitting with both legs in the no column. No one is infringing on their first amendment right, and the fact that the people behind the mosque would lie and say there is nowhere else to build kind of makes them suspect. If they really cared about building bridges, and making peace with Americans wouldn’t they take all the outrage into consideration? Doesn’t the fact that other moderate Muslims say this is a bad idea strike a chord with them?

If you listen to the left you would think that we who are against the mosque just want all Muslims to go back to the Middle East, but then again, who listens to commentators on the left? If you listen to the people actually involved you will hear, build the mosque, just anywhere but there. No one is saying don’t build it, or there are too many, or they don’t want a mosque in New York. They just don’t want it there.

Now, onto the craziness behind the issue, and the hypocrisy of the supporters.

First off. It has been common practice for Muslim leaders to build mosques in celebration of military victories, especially against Christians and Jews. Not saying this is the case here, but it lends to the ill feeling people have toward the idea. If this isn’t the case, then why is this site so important? Why does this seem to be the only spot they want to build it?

That brings me to another point, supporters have said there is no other available space, but that is a lie. Several people have done just a few minutes of research to find there are many properties available in Manhattan.

Now, we have politicians in support, mainly the President, that say it is their right, under the first amendment to build this. Last I checked…that’s a total lie, or misunderstanding of the constitution, you decide. The first amendment guarantees that we will be able to practice our religion without fear of persecution from the government. It does NOT say that we can build a holy site wherever we want. There have been hundreds of cases of churches, mosques, and temples who have not been able to build where they wanted to for some reason or another. As a matter of fact, there was a Greek Orthodox church that was destroyed right there at Ground Zero. They owned the land the church was on, and had owned it for a long time. They wanted to rebuild their church but were told no, they would have to move, so they were given land in a different location near Ground Zero. Then, after they submitted the plans to build a traditional Greek Orthodox church they were told it was too tall, and have since faced miles of red tape to build a church that was already there, and destroyed in the attack. Double standard? Hypocrisy? Where’s the President, on his shining white horse, to save the day for the Greek Orthodox church?

Listen guys, talking to you that want to build this mosque, if you want to build bridges don’t start by ticking everyone off. I heard some of you guys lie about there being a mosque there, but we have heard it said several times there will be a mosque in the building. We have heard you lie about there being no other location. We hear your leaders say it was our fault for the attacks, one day after September 11th, 2001. We have watched your leader go over to the Middle East, on our dime, and ask for support for the project. We aren’t stupid, we aren’t blind, we are paying attention. If you want to build bridges, start by actually giving a damn about other people.